Random Comments review ( )

Rick Deckard, along with his wife, is hanging on, lingering on an Earth that is nearly deserted by a nuclear war and subsequent widespread immigration to Mars. He works as a bounty hunter, "retiring" any human-like androids that escape from the colony back to Earth. In a world where many species have gone extinct and it is considered the proper task of every human to buy and care for a (very expensive) animal, he keeps up appearances by tending an electric sheep, which he deeply resents. His workmanlike attitude toward his job is imperiled on two fronts: his growing sexual attraction to a particular android and his encounter with a bounty hunter who strikes him as morally repugnant.

I know it's a sci-fi classic, and I was often intrigued by the ideas. but it left me cold. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic. The novel seems to make a complex point about the androids: that they are on the one hand morally vacant, and on the other deserving of being treated with dignity. The only logical conclusion is that they should simply not exist, especially as their lifespans are short--only a few years. A side plot involving a religion called Mercerism, in which people use "empathy boxes" to take the role of Mercer, an old many climbing a hill amid a hail of rocks, seems to be saying that something need not be real or authentic to carry meaning. I am drawn more to the human drama in a book, though, and that made it difficult to connect with the novel. ( )

PKD raises some interesting philosophical issues in this novel: should we feel empathy for machines, what makes a human or animal different than a machine, or what is the proper status of 'specials'. Very thought-provoking. I was also very intrigued by the initial exchange between Deckard and Mercer - "You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature that lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation: this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe." ( )

Wow. So much more to this than the Blade Runner link suggests. Extremely well written (no surprise, with Philip K. Dick as author), and delving into some rich material of a post-apocalyptic flavor, touching on loneliness, animal ownership lust, the importance of empathy, and religion--for starters. But on top of that, it's a lot of engaging fun. ( )

Even for bibliophiles, once a given written work is transformed by Hollywood to their vision of what the work is, our view may be forever tainted by that Hollywood change. I found this to be very much the case with the Philip K Dick classic, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. This was the basis for Ridley Scott’s equally classic Sci-Fi movie, Blade Runner. If I had not known that this book was the basis for that movie, I would have had a hard time putting that together. Other than character names, these two works bear little resemblance to each other.

Once tainted, it is hard to make that separation between the works again. I worked hard at it and developed an appreciation for the written work in its own right. While not a linear antecedent to such works as Saknussemm’s Zanesville, the lineage is there. Both of these works ask us to question what is real and what is constructed reality. Dick’s original version also spends a lot of time asking us to consider what separates Humanity from Electronic Intelligence and portions of the work read like a verbal Rorschach test. Because of this, many readers may consider this book very slow paced. If you read this work, I urge you to go through these musings carefully: I found them very intriguing and gave me an insight to what Dick was really trying to convey to us.

I also, finally, understood why Ridley Scott chose to represent the future so darkly, why there was so much housing available and how off-world colonization became so attractive. While not detailed, Dick reveals that this future was shaped by a nuclear confrontation, a fear that was very much at the forefront of peoples’ fears when this novel was created. People left Earth to escape the fallout and thus the abundance of available places to live.

Enjoy this book for its own style. While not as fanciful as some futuristic novels, it is best considered as a cautionary tale. We are not far off from many of the worst aspects Dick brings to this version of the future. This is one for hard core sci-fi fans. If you have seen the movie and can get over the expected characterizations, you might find this version much more satisfying. ( )